For
those Tech students coming close to their graduation day, Tech’s Career
Services provides a wide variety of options to facilitate students at finding
the right job for them and connecting them with prospective employers.
Additionally despite the gloomy outlook on the national economy and its effects
on the job market, the job outlook for recent Tech graduates is still healthy
for the majority of majors at Tech, especially engineering and computer-related
fields.

However,
with the economy constantly slumping in the past few years, many students are
concerned about their prospects for getting a job after graduation. According
to Ralph Mobley, director of Career Services, the job market for technical
skills is still good.

“There’s
just as much recruiting [this year] as a year ago,” Mobley said.

He
advised that as the times change, the skill set favors certain fields more. At
this point in time, technical skills are a focus of employers, which Mobley
said melds well with Tech’s engineering focus. The job market for positions in
fields like investment banking or the automotive industry are weak sectors
according to Mobley, who also described the recruitment for consulting
positions as “holding up.“

The
last major decline in the job market was back in 2001.

“The
bottom fell out in the job market, and continued to go down in 2003. It’s been
on a steady climb until 2007,” Mobley said.

“We
seem to still be in a strong position. This is particularly true for many of
the industries that traditionally recruit at Tech,” Mobley said. Many
companies, such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Schlumberger, which have been typical
fare at Tech for recent graduates, are still recruiting. Additionally,
according to Mobley, many consulting companies and high-tech companies such as
Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft are still recruiting at around the same
level as a year ago.

The
job market has declined slightly in 2008, but according to Mobley, it doesn’t
seem that dramatic.

“The
[job] placement rate for new graduates is around 60 percent, and about one
quarter of graduates said they are going on to graduate school.”

According
to the Job Outlook 2009 Special Report produced by National Association of
Colleges and Employers, the projected hiring rate for the class of 2009 shows a
very stagnant level. However, there does not seem to be any indication of a
decrease in hiring compared to the 2008 rates.

“I
will note that there is a big difference between recruiting and hiring. We
won’t have a clear hiring picture for a while yet, perhaps not until January,”
Mobley said.

As for any change in the amount of students opting
for graduate school rather than testing the job market, there has not been any
evidence available yet to show a possible increase in graduate school
applications due to the current economic climate. “[In] my experience is that
grad school applications increase during tight job markets, but I don’t want to
speak for our admissions department,” Mobley said. The admissions department
was unavailable for comment at time of printing.